


The Dam Broke

by Chloe_Hallow_Eve



Series: Black Paladin Lance [12]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Black Paladin Lance (Voltron), Langst, Past Torture, Post-Season/Series 02 (Voltron), Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-23 01:34:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10709370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chloe_Hallow_Eve/pseuds/Chloe_Hallow_Eve
Summary: Your body is a temple, but your mind is a castle. What happens when that castle starts to crumble?Alternatively Titled: Haggar Did A Number On Our Blue BoySet after It's Hard To Be Diplomatic





	The Dam Broke

Lance had forgotten the fact that, while captive, Haggar had given him a volet-gold substance once or twice a month. He had forgotten what it had been used for. He had forgotten about what she did to him. 

 

He did remember what it was like to have a shattered mind. 

 

He also remembered, too late, that he wasn’t supposed to try and remember what she had done while rooting around in his skull. 

 

They had been meeting with the Blade of Mamora, discussing battle plans. They hadn’t gotten that far, since the Blade and Allura never quite saw eye to eye. The only thing they'd agreed to so far was to see what Slav was working on. Slav had brought forward a device that would repel corrupted quintessence, and hopefully slow the enemy troops. When he had demonstrated how it worked with a vial of purple-yellow liquid, Lance had stumbled and sank to the ground. It felt like someone had knocked a wall down in his mind, and water was filling his thoughts up fast. Memories got washed away in the flood, and desperate worms tried to stick and click them on. 

 

Voices filtered in slowly, tunes Lance could probably ring bells to. 

 

“Lance! Lance, are you alright?” The princess asked, leaning over him. 

 

Someone else was propping him up, and wasn’t that a weird sensation? Everything felt weird. His clothes were rashes and he needed to pick at them until he could peel them off. Then he would have to remove the floor and tell the person to not wash him in slime. 

 

Food goo was disgusting. Maybe they should dye it blue. Blue goo. 

 

Lance started giggling. 

 

Allura stepped back, startled, and Shiro popped into his line of sight. His eyebrows were all crinkle-tinkley. “Lance, this isn’t the time for jokes.” 

 

“The dam broke.” 

 

Shiro blinked. “What?”

 

Lance rubbed his scalp, trying to move the stringy roots enough so they’d fall out, simultaneously trying to bite the rash. “London bridge came crashing down, and no kingsmen are gonna save the drowning pieces or put them back together again. Cats still in bags floating down the river off to neverland.” 

 

Shiro’s brows furrowed further, and he took Lance’s hands in his. “Lance,” He said slowly, “can you tell me where we are?”

 

Lance twisted and turned his worms out of the fleshy fly trap, but left his other in the metal one. He was okay with that. “Stabby Cheshires said hi, so we wandered into Wonderland, and the caterpillar told Alice the smoke was bad.”

 

Shiro looked to the person propping him up, worry etched onto his face. He looked back down at Lance. “Do you know what's happening with you?”

 

Lance nodded until the world started spinning. “Witchdoctor cast her worms into the machine and broke it. Clogged the gears then thought grease would help but the worms were still alive and the flood washed the grease away. Caterpillar cast the flood and the witchdoctor has no use for clogged machines.”

 

Didn’t Pidge and Hunk like machines? Maybe they could fix his. Like back at the Garrison, when they worked together all the time. They could work on the machine while Lance handed them the tools they needed. That’d be nice.

 

Allura knelt beside Shiro. “Are you talking about Haggar? When she held you captive?”

 

Lance tried to rock, but the person behind him was keeping him steady. But he had to move, there was so many worms and so much energy and everything was too warm. He nodded again. 

 

Shiro’s face flashed to panic. “Lance, this is important, and I need you to answer me as clearly as possible. Did she use her magic to look into your mind?” 

 

Lance was quiet. He used his free worms to poke at the metal joints, impressed that they weren’t ball bearings. The bad Cheshires really knew how to perfect their craft. 

 

“Lance.” Shiro said more firmly, and Lance slowly dragged his eyes up to connect with his leaders. “Did Haggar use her magic to look into your mind?”

 

Lance leaned down and bit the metal arm. 

 

Shiro took a long, deep breath, then motioned for someone else to come over. When Lance could see Hunk, he stopped gnawing on the arm. 

 

“Can you take Lance back, then stay with him? I’m not sure I trust Lance to be on his own like this.”

 

Lance made an offended noise. “Witchdoctor always left me in my room and I was fine.”

 

“Sure.” Hunk nodded, looking pretty shaken, then knelt near Lance. “C’mon, bud, I’m gonna need you to stand up for me.” Lance stared at him blankly. “Y’know, on your legs?”

 

Lance frowned. “But the water’s fine and my fin doesn’t splash around on rock.”

 

“Oh my god.” Hunk breathed, looking both horrified and exasperated. “Okay, bud, I’m going to give you a piggy back ride, but you have to do some of the work, okay?”

 

Lance grinned, worms flailing out and making grabby motions. Hunk smiled a bit and turned, and Lance slid on easily. “Ride, mighty steed, back to Narnia!”

 

Hunk huffed a laugh, then started walking back to the castle, just outside of the Blade’s base. 

 

Everyone else stayed behind. Shiro turned to them. “Okay, does anyone else have any ideas on what that was?”

 

Keith stood, brushing his pants off. He didn't need to be on the floor if he wasn't supporting Lance’s weight. “Zero clues.”

 

“I've never seen anything like it.” Pidge mumbled, trying to distract their concern with curiosity. “Slav, what exactly does that machine do?”

 

“It repels and damages corrupted quintessence. So we can conclude that whatever happened to Lance, that substance was most likely included.” Slav looked out the door. “Is the big fellow going to be alright being the only one taking care of him?”

 

“Hunk is fully capable of taking care of Lance.” Allura dismissed. “Shiro, why did you ask if Haggar had used her magic to reach into his mind?”

 

Shiro rubbed his face. “Because he was talking like a lot of the prisoners who went through those experiments did. They all made nonsensical comments, and tended to forget things. I think that's why Lance is acting like this. But why has it taken so long for him to show the signs? And why now? What does corrupt quintessence have to do with it?”

 

“Whatever it is, we must find a solution quickly. Pidge, can I entrust you to work with Slav to find a way to help cure Lance?”

 

Pidge nodded. Keith crossed his arms, looking out the window and watching Yellow make her way into the castle. He wondered how long this would take, and what would happen in that time. Whatever it was, he wanted to be there and help Lance. 

 

* * *

“Lance, please, get down from the cupboards.”

 

“No.”

 

“Lance, you're gonna fall and hurt yourself.”

 

Keith had no idea what he’d walked into. 

 

Lance was curled up on top of the cupboards, squished between them and the ceiling, staring at the entrance to the kitchen. And, therefore, Keith. Lance lifted his head off of his crossed arms and grinned. 

 

“Keith!”

 

Keith couldn't help but smile back. Even when a little out of his mind, Lance was happy to see him. It was a nice feeling. 

 

Hunk turned around and gave him a small wave. “Hey buddy.”  

 

“Hey. What's going on?”

 

“Lance went up there and won't come down. Says he's making sure no one comes in and poisons the food. At least, that's what I think he said.”

 

“He couldn't remember how to walk an hour ago.”

 

“He's a fast learner.”

 

Lance reached down and waved his hand about. “The bugs crawl out of the shadows and lay eggs in the cells. Then the eggs hatch in your lungs. Then they crawl out.”

 

Keith absently reached up and took Lance’s hand, though he ignored the rambling. “This would almost be cute if he wasn’t babbling about bugs that grow in living bodies.”

 

Hunk gave him a look. “How is any of this cute?”

 

“He's just making sure we’re safe. In an odd, unconventional way.”

 

Hunk narrowed his eyes. “You win this round, purple boy.”

 

“I thought we established I’m not turning purple.”

 

Lance carefully wriggled himself onto the counter, then to the floor, and hugged Keith. “Keith is cute too.” He paused. “And has nice hair.”

 

Keith screamed internally. Hunk smirked at him over Lance’s shoulder. “You two are disgustingly cute.”

 

“Cherry pie, my man.” Lance chirped happily. 

 

Keith huffed, hugging Lance back and resting his chin on Lance’s shoulder.  He examined Hunk’s face. The poor guy looked exhausted. Keith cleared his throat, pulling back to smile at Lance. “How about you help me set the table so Hunk doesn't have to do it?”

 

Lance grinned back. “Can we ride the cow over the moon?”

 

Keith blinked. “Uh, sure?”

 

Lance clapped and raced to the other room. Keith shook his head and followed. 

 

* * *

Lance frowned at the empty seat at the table. He looked to the door, the chair, then back to the door. His frown deepened. 

 

“Where's the bird?”

 

Allura blinked at him. “The what?”

 

“The bird. The Pokémon. The pokébird.”

 

Allura looked at the others for help. Hunk raised a brow. “You mean Pidge?”

 

Lance nodded. 

 

“Probably in their lab.”

 

Lance stood and ran out of the room yelling, “Pokébird get out of your nest!” 

 

Shiro rubbed his forehead, sighing. “Well, at least this is a best result I've seen of Haggar's magic.”

 

Keith ignored the pleading, ‘please don't ask’ face Hunk was sending his way. “What were the other results?”

 

Shiro tapped his fingers on the table. He glanced at the door, worry etched into his features, as it seemed to always be. “Generally the person would become paranoid, angry, and lash out at the smallest provoking. Some would just…. give up.”

 

Keith looked down at his food, swallowing. “Yeah, it looks like we got lucky.”

 

It wasn't as comforting a thought as he tried to make it. Because, ultimately, Lance wasn't  _ Lance _ . He looked and sounded like him, but this version of him that had his mind shattered wasn't  _ their  _ Lance. Keith felt his throat close. 

 

Hunk’s face slowly draining of colour. “Shiro, you mentioned that you’ve gone through that mind-reading-thing.”

 

Shiro held up a hand. “I’ll stop you there. I’m not ready to talk about what exactly happened or what it was like, but I will say that the small amount of information they extracted was extremely painful and made me mentally unstable for a time. Nothing major, just a tendency to lash out at anything that snuck up on me.” He paused, glancing at the door again. “I can’t imagine what Lance would have had to go through to get to this point.” 

 

Hunk blinked rapidly, sniffing. Loud footsteps came towards the dining room, and Hunk wiped his eyes quickly, taking a drink. Then choked on it when Lance came around the corner, carrying Pidge from their armpits like a cat. Pidge glared at them all while Lance beamed. 

 

“I caught the pokébird!” 

 

Keith felt his own laughter before he heard it. Pidge’s glare intensified as Shiro and Allura joined in with their own small giggles. Coran focused on trying to get Hunk to breathe properly, but even the yellow paladin was wheezing with laughter. 

 

Keith decided to take pity on Pidge when it didn’t look like Lance would set them down any time soon. “Lance, Pidge won't be able to eat anything if you keep holding them.”

 

Lance hummed, walking over to Pidge’s chair and plopping them down in it. He sat in his seat, pulled his food towards himself, and shoved a spoonful into his mouth. Keith chuckled and threw a napkin at Lance. 

 

Everything was okay, just for a little while. For this little pocket of time, everything would be okay. 

 

* * *

Despite having Shiro back as their leader, their schedules stayed the same. Training times adjusted to accommodate Shiro, but besides that, nothing changed. They still traded off between group training and relaxed training day to day, they still trained separately, and they still ate together. Lance was proud of these changes, as he should be, and wanted to still be as involved in everyone’s improvements as possible. 

 

No one allowed Lance to step anywhere near the training room the first couple days after Haggar’s influence resurfaced. After throwing enough temper tantrums, they group decided they’d allow him to watch them train. That seemed to satisfy Lance for the time being. He sat quietly on the sidelines, watching intently. He refused to be in the control room for whatever reason. The others didn’t mind, as long as they kept the bots and shots away from the blue paladin. 

 

The team had worked their way up to the higher levels, where the individual bot’s reflexes and strength was twice that of a human. But it wasn’t nearly as strong as Allura, or quick as Keith. The two of them tended to practice together, trying out team combinations to improve their performance in battle. When they managed to get the move mostly perfect, they would try them while training as a group, much to Shiro’s dismay. That day’s training was no different. 

 

Allura tossed Keith at the bot, grunting with the effort, while Hunk slammed into it’s lower back. Keith managed to cut it’s head off before slamming into the floor on the other side of it. The bot dropped into the floor. Keith rolled onto his back, face contorted in pain. Shiro pulled him up. 

 

“Okay, that was good up until you two pulled a stunt you knew you couldn’t completely pull off. Again. Despite that, the only thing you need to work on is pulling your throw, Allura, and Keith, try to use the enemy you’re decapitating to steady yourself.”

 

They nodded. 

 

“Alright, let’s go once more then take a five minute break.”

 

Coran piped up from the control room. “I’ll up the difficulty, so you can all get a reference for what to achieve!” 

 

Hunk’s eyes widened. “Wait, that’s probably not-”

 

The next bot dropped. Pidge, reflexive as ever, quickly cast out their grappling hook, managing to wrap it around the bots leg. “I won’t be able to keep it trapped for long!”

 

Allura rushed forward, swiping her staff at the bots remaining leg. It stumbled, but didn’t go down. It caught Allura’s next swing, then sent her flying into the wall with a hard kick. Shiro and Keith moved forward together, Keith on the left, Shiro on the right. The bot blocked Keith’s sword, but took a jab to the arm. It caught Shiro’s arm, but left himself open for Keith’s sword. The red paladin quickly stabbed at the bots side. Pidge released their grappling hook and rushed over to Allura, helping her up and leading her over to Hunk, who had his gun steady and pointed at the bot. 

 

Keith got in close when Shiro had the bot distracted, prepared to go for the finishing blow. He aimed the hit, then surged forward. The bot turned just in time to avoid the stab and disarmed Keith. It smacked Shiro upside the head, sending him to the floor, then grabbed Keith’s throat and slammed him to the ground. 

 

Keith gasped. Coran began to call the training sequence off when it squeezed, but cut off when a blur of movement threw the bot off of him. Keith coughed, sitting up to look at what happened. 

 

Lance had his hand on the back of the bots head, knees pinning its arms to the ground, slamming its face into the floor repeatedly. He was staring at the far wall as he did, eyes unfocused. His lips were moving, but there was no sound. Hunk took a step forward, face openly horrified, but Allura placed a hand on his shoulder. Eventually, the bots head broke. A hole opened up under it and it disappeared, leaving Lance blinking back into reality. He seemed confused for a moment, looking around, then spotted Keith. He hurried over, kneeling and examining Keith’s neck with a small frown. 

 

“It didn’t juice the blueberries.” He murmured, eyes struggling to stay focused. 

 

Shiro slowly approached, giving Lance time to make sure Keith was fine, then kneeling next to them. “Hey, Lance, you look tired. How about you go lay down for a while? I’ll take Keith to the healing pods. Sound good?”

 

Lance nodded, standing. He swayed a bit on his feet, and Hunk appeared by his side. “There shall be no juice today.” He slurred, slowly making his way to the door with Hunk’s help. “The wool needs to be sold. I’ll go tell Mary.” 

 

Once he was gone, Shiro helped Keith up and started walking towards the infirmary. Everyone else followed. 

 

“That can’t be a good sign.” Pidge took their glasses and swiped them over their shirt hem before replacing them. “How could that be a good sign?”

 

Shiro sighed. “I was hoping he wouldn’t get violent. I guess that was naive.”

 

“Are you seriously going to put me in a pod?” Keith rasped. 

 

“No, but I am going to wrap your neck and look for something to make it easier to eat later on.” 

 

Keith couldn’t argue with that. “What happened with Lance out there?”

 

Shiro’s brows furrowed deeply. “I can’t be sure, but I think he might have had a flashback. He just…. He had that look, you know? When you’re far off, but still here? I think he lost control.” Shiro looked down, laughing bitterly. “Can’t say I haven’t done the same.” 

 

Keith squeezed his shoulder comfortingly the same time Allura reached out to rub his back. Pidge bumped their hip with his. Shiro smiled at them, but it quickly faded. 

 

“I feel we should try and keep Lance away from anything that could potentially set him off again.” Allura suggested. 

 

The others agreed. 

 

* * *

Lance got worse. 

 

A few days after the incident, Lance lost his cool  in the hallway. He screamed at a wall until he lost his voice. A few days after that, Hunk found Lance on the observation deck, curled in a ball, rocking and sobbing. Hunk had tried to calm him down, but all he did was crowd Lance. The blue paladin had ended up exhausting himself and falling asleep. The next day, he had sat at the dining table all day, unresponsive. He hadn’t slept that night, instead wandered the ship, babbling to himself. 

 

No one could tell what set Lance off. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe he just remembered things randomly, or his own train of thought brought him to those parts of his mind. 

 

Or maybe they were all too blind to see. 

 

They were all talking about Pidge and Slav’s research on how to help Lance. Everyone chose their words carefully, not wanting to startle the boy in question. Keith kept Lance’s hand in his own, more for his own comfort than Lance’s. When he squeezed, Lance squeezed back. 

 

Pidge had been talking about the different routes they could take to help when Lance had tensed. He had shaken his hand free of Keith’s, and slowly backed away from the group. He was staring at the Balmeran crystal, eyes glazed over. He started tugging at the material on his chest. 

 

Shiro started to slowly approach him. It felt like that was the only way to do it as of late. “Lance? Are you okay?”

 

Lance didn’t answer beyond mumbling something that Shiro couldn’t hear.

 

Shiro stopped when he was in front of the blue paladin. He didn’t dare touch the other, since that sometimes made things worse. He put his hands in front of himself, palms up, showing he meant no harm. 

 

“Lance, can you come back to us?”

 

“.....Champion….” 

 

Shiro froze. He knew there were probably other words Lance said that he hadn’t caught, words that would explain the situation, but just hearing the word triggered a deep seeded fear in Shiro. One so powerful that Shiro instinctively activated his arm. 

 

Lance’s focus snapped to the purple glow immediately. He had the expression of someone who had witnessed the end of all things, his terror was so raw and primal. It was the kind of terror that made even the most logical of man think irrationally. 

 

Shiro expected the punch. He didn’t expect how much it would hurt. 

 

The act of violence surged the others into action, Hunk grabbing Shiro and bringing him out of Lance’s reach while Keith took hold of Lance’s arms and pinned them to his back. Lance, eyes wild, threw himself backwards. Keith let go of him instantly, letting Lance fall, then pinned Lance’s arms again, this time to the floor, and with his knees. Allura placed her hands on Lance’s legs, effectively keeping them still. Lance screamed, arching upwards. He slammed his head into the ground, and Keith grabbed it with both hands. Lance suddenly stilled, all signs of life dropping, eyes wide and hollow. If they couldn’t see him breathing, they might have thought his heart gave out. Keith leaned over Lance, whispering reassurances and encouragements, placing kisses to his forehead. 

 

Shiro had to turn away. He wished he could say he hadn’t seen something like this happen, but he would be lying. He lifted his fingertips to his nose briefly, and when he pulled them away, there was blood. 

 

“He really got you good.” Pidge mumbled, sniffing suspiciously. 

 

Shiro took a deep breath to keep the pain and panic away. “Pidge, you were talking about a chip, weren’t you?”

 

Pidge wiped their eyes. “Y-Yeah, but I would need Lance’s permission-”

 

“Lance can’t make decisions for himself like this. We’re the closest thing he has to a family right now, we have to make the decision together.”

 

“So, what? We just put it up to a vote?” Hunk sounded surprisingly angry behind the tears he let flow freely. “This is Lance’s  _ life _ , not a strategy discussion.”

 

Shiro placed his flesh hand on Hunk’s shoulder, squeezing it. “I know, bud. That's  _ why  _ it's important to go through our options and not make any rash decisions.” He turned back to Pidge. “What’s the worst case scenario if this goes South?”

 

Pidge was silent, staring past Shiro at Lance. They slowly looked back to their leader, face grim. “If Slav and I don't do this right, we could make Lance worse, and potentially have no way of getting him back.”

 

The silence was deafening. Hunk covered his face with his hands. Shiro looked over his shoulder. Keith met his gaze, lips pressed thin. Allura was hunched, her thumbs stroking Lance’s ankles. Shiro swallowed the lump in his own throat. 

 

“I vote we go for it.” Everyone turned to look at Keith. He looked down at Lance. “There doesn't sound like there's another option that will work as well. And I trust you, Pidge, so I'm saying go for it.”

 

Allura nodded. “While I don't like the sound of this, we have equipment that can accomplish it easily. I stand with Keith.”

 

Shiro nodded, then took a steady breath. “...There's a lot at stake, but I believe it's the best option. I can't let Lance be in that state of mind, knowing what it's like and what it does to a person.”

 

Hunk kept his face in his hands. After a moment, he sniffed, dragging his hands down his face and clearing as much of the wetness as he could. 

 

“I,” he cleared his throat, “I don't like this.”

 

Shiro nodded. “You don't have to.”

 

“He's suffered enough.”

 

“I know.”

 

Hunk looked up, taking an open mouthed breath, trying to blink away the tears that still fell. He slowly looked over at Lance. The tears fell faster. He looked over at Pidge and nodded. 

 

Pidge nodded back, steeling themselves. It was times like this that Shiro remembered that they were fourteen. They shouldn't have to have this weight on their shoulders. 

 

“Let's call the Blade, get Slav over here.” Pidge’s eyes gleamed with determination. “I want to do this as soon as possible.”

 

* * *

Lance was pulled from his slumber slowly. He first felt he was in a bed, a mattress at his back and sheets over his body. There was someone holding his hand. Next, his mouth tasted stale and dry. He heard someone breathing next to him. He tried opening his eyes, but his eyelids were heavy. Lance opened them anyways, fighting the light and his want to go back to sleep. There was something over his head, Lance could see a faint outline at the top of his vision. 

 

“Hey.”  

 

Lance looked over, and was greeted by a sleepy, smiling Keith. Lance gave his own lopsided grin. “Hey.”

 

“How do you feel?”

 

Lance shrugged. “Tired. Kinda like a brick at the bottom of a river.” He brought a hand up to the bandage. It felt like fiberglass, but Lance knew it was the Altean version of bandages. “What happened?”

 

Keith squeezed his hand. “What do you remember?”

 

Lance thought about it. Then he wished he hadn't. He groaned, melting into the mattress. “ _ Chingada madre, _ I am so, so sorry.”

 

“Hey, no, it wasn't your fault. Haggar messed up your head. You didn't do anything wrong.”

 

Lance fixed Keith with a serious stare. “I punched Shiro.”

 

Keith was silent for a while. “It was a damn good punch.”

 

Lance snorted. “Not the point.” He sighed, linking his fingers with Keith’s. “Can I at least be sorry for scaring you guys? For worrying you all?”

 

Keith ducked his head. “... Yeah. But we’ll forgive you immediately.”

 

Lance smiled. “Cool.”

 

“Cool.”

 

They enjoyed the silence for a moment.

Lance adjusted, sitting up. “So, nothing in my memory answers why I'm lying in a bed in the infirmary instead of a healing pod, my head bandaged.”

 

“Oh, yeah.” Keith sighed. “Pidge and Slav found a way of making you better, I can't really describe it well. Are you awake enough to have everyone here?”

 

Lance shrugged. “As long as someone brings water.”

 

Keith nodded, and leaned over to the com on the wall. “Hey, guys, Lance is awake. Could someone bring water on their way here?”

 

Not a couple seconds later, Hunk came barreling in with a glass of water in hand. He put the water on the bedside table, then practically flung himself onto his friend. Pidge ran in next, jumping into the bed like a cannonball. Lance grunted, but allowed his friends to hug him tightly. Shiro and Allura came in together, probably from the bridge. They walked to the other side of the bed. 

 

“Welcome back, Lance.” Shiro placed his flesh hand on Lance’s head. 

 

“Dude, you have no idea how much I missed you. Like, bro, I was baking cookies, and then I started crying, cause you usually help me.” Hunk had a firm hold of Lance’s shoulders and wouldn't let go. “Please never scare me like that again.”

 

Whatever Pidge was saying was muffled in Lance’s chest. Allura just smiled, one of her delicate hands covering Lance’s. Lance shifted so he could breathe past the Pidge lying on him. 

 

“Sorry for doing that to you guys.” He grinned sheepishly. “Depending on how well whatever you did works, it’ll probably never happen again.”

 

Pidge lifted their face, scowling. “It shouldn’t. That chip is a state of the art, one of a kind, Pidge and Slav work of genius. We managed to make it so it runs off of your own quintessence. It shouldn’t break any time soon, if at all.”

 

Lance sniffed, wanting to scratch his nose, but both of his hands were being held. He settled for using Pidge’s head as a scratching post. Pidge’s face scrunched up. 

 

“What’s the chip, anyways?”

 

Pidge wiped their nose on Lance’s shoulder as retaliation before replying. “It’s a small transmitter that draws in your natural quintessence and basically makes neurotransmitters that help to keep your brain activity normal and healthy. It’s about the size of my thumbnail, both in width and length, and placed near the base of your brain. We had to remove a piece of your skull to do this, so we kind of put in a metal bit to replace the bone. You’ll have to keep the bandage on for a while.”

 

Lance, who had the smile of someone who only understood bits and pieces of what was being said, looked oddly proud. “Thanks, Pidge. You’re kind of the best.”

 

“I kind of am.” 

 

Allura cleared her throat, drawing attention to herself. “Coran apologizes for not being able to be here, but he had to go meet with the Blade about trading for parts to upgrade the ship. He did send his warm wishes, along with this.” She pulled a bracelet out of her pocket. 

 

Lance took it gently, examining the handmade beaded jewelry. It was like those bracelets you’d make at summer camp, with the letter beads. Lance lined his up correctly, then barked out a loud laugh, startling the others. Of course Coran would put his own name on it instead of Lance’s. Lance slipped it on, nonetheless, grateful to the adult for making him something. He grinned at the others. 

 

“Really, thank you, guys. For taking care of me.”

 

“We’re just returning the favour.” Shiro said, ruffling his hair, making sure not to jostle the bandage. 

 

The rest nodded. Lance blinked away happy tears, overwhelmed by his love for his space family. He missed his home, and he missed his family there, but he was sure that if he was to go back right now, he would miss the castle ship in the same way. Besides, he wanted to be as healthy as he could be when he went back. 

 

Lance’s smile slowly faded. He should probably tell the others about what happened. Back with Haggar, after the video cut out. After Haggar had ripped his heart out of his chest. After…. He wasn’t sure he could think about it yet. 

 

Keith tugged on his arm, a question on his face. Lance brought Keith’s hand to his mouth and kissed the knuckles to reassure both of them. His smile came back when Keith started to turn red. 

 

“Guys, there’s something I should probably talk to you all about.” He paused, looking at the far wall. He took a breath, and sighed through his nose. “I don’t think now is the best time, but… next relaxed training, we should talk.”

 

Shiro seemed hesitant, since he hadn’t been there for the first group feelings jam, but the others nodded. Lance smiled at them and relaxed, allowing himself to be comforted by the people around him. 

 

Yeah, space wasn’t so bad, if he could be this close to the people with him. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is so much longer than I thought it would be. Go me! And yes, this fic is around the time when Lance and Keith first started dating (finally). 
> 
> I know this must be getting redundant, but I am so amazed by all of the amazing comments and kudos and bookmarks I'm getting! I can't thank you all enough for your support, it means the world to me, and keeps my motivation to write this alive! Thank you all so much, you are all amazing. 
> 
> I'll see you Wednesday~!


End file.
